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November 14, 2012 - Localizing Development: Does Participation Work?, a new Policy Research Report analyzing community development and decentralization projects, shows that such projects often fail to be sensitive to complex contexts – including social, political, historical and geographical realities – and fall short in terms of monitoring and evaluation systems, which hampers learning.

Citing numerous examples, including projects and programs supported by the World Bank, the authors demonstrate that participatory projects are not a substitute for weak states, but instead require strong central support to be effective.

See below to download full report.

Publication Reviews

“There are fundamental reasons to see the World Bank's reportLocalizing Development,by Ghazala Mansuri and Vijayendra Rao, as one of the most important books on development in recent years. ”

ROGER MYERSON, Professor of Economics, University of Chicago and Winner of 2007 Nobel Prize in Economics

“Mansuri and Rao give the best existing treatment of the successes and failures of participatory approaches to development. At the heart of this extraordinary study is the recognition of a reality that will be uncomfortable for many: the key challenge of many participatory development interventions is not finding out how best to respond to grassroots pressures, but how to induce them in the first place. Building on a long tradition in political economy the authors draw attention to the presence of a “civil society failure” in which, contrary to the claims of optimists, representative voices do not emerge organically. Synthesizing and developing a rapidly growing literature, Mansuri and Rao provide an encyclopedic account of the state of knowledge on top-down attempts to generate bottom-up pressures.”

MACARTAN HUMPHREYS, Professor of Political Science, Columbia University

“Localizing Development: Does Participation Work? gives us a much-needed comprehensive account of the available empirical evidence and puts it in a coherent perspective. It takes a balanced and sensible approach on many of the controversial issues and provides a valuable guide for further research and policy initiatives.”

“Finally, a book that takes a hard, empirically grounded, and comprehensive look at donor-led efforts to promote local participatory development. Drawing on an exhaustive selection of cases and aggregate data that range across virtually every sector of development, Mansuri and Rao draw out the complex set of political, social, and institutional variables that shape the prospects for people’s participation in development. For scholars, activists, and policy makers interested in promoting more democratic forms of development, this is required reading.”

PATRICK HELLER, Professor of Sociology and International Studies,Brown University

“This is by far the most definitive and comprehensive review of the lessons learned regarding local and participatory development over the past two decades. A central theme that emerges from this review is that context matters, both how and why. The authors are able to integrate concepts and methods of reasoning from the different relevant disciplines of economics, politics, and sociology, no easy task at all.”

DILIP MOOKHERJEE, Professor of Economics, Boston University

“Over the past decades, participatory development has become a key concern among donor agencies and governments. To what extent does this approach open up a novel way to tackle poverty, overcome governance problems, and encourage civil society organizations? And is there solid evidence supporting the view that going through communities works better than going through the central state? Anyone interested in knowing the answers to these hard and topical questions must read this book by Ghazala Mansuri and Vijayendra Rao. It is the best available on the subject.”

JEAN-PHILIPPE PLATTEAU, Professor of Economics, University of Namur, Belgium and University of Oxford, United Kingdom